Professional Psychology Program
Newsletter
Fall 2013
The George Washington University
Professional Psychology Program
Fall 2013 Newsletter
Letter from the Director
Dear Colleagues and Friends of the Professional Psychology Program,
I’m glad to report that this past year the students and faculty of the
Professional Psychology Program continued their active involvement
in the science and practice of clinical psychology. Over the course of
the year, students provided hundreds of hours of clinical services in our
program clinic and presented their scholarly work at a wide range of
professional meetings (including the APA conference in Honolulu in
August). Within our program, active continuing education events
occurred regularly, as did colloquia, informal “brown bag” discussions
on Friday afternoons, and case conferences presented by senior clinic
externs.
On August 23rd we welcomed twenty-nine new students to our
program; a photo capturing their warm smiles on orientation day
follows inside this newsletter, as does an introduction to our new postdoctoral fellows and our newest faculty members, Dr. James Sexton
and Dr. Steven Kane.
Loring J. Ingraham, Ph.D.
Program Director
Professor of Clinical Psychology
This past year the Professional Psychology Program was joined by two
new affiliate programs, the Master of Arts in Forensic Psychology
directed by Dr. Richard Cooter, and the LGBT Health Graduate
Certificate program directed by Dr. Stephen Forssell; links to
information about both are now featured on our program webpage.
With best wishes for 2013-2014,
Loring Ingraham
A warm welcome to all new members of
the Professional Psychology Community!
Welcome Class of 2017!
Top Row 1 (left to right): Patrick Roebke, Mandy Thompson, Faye Turley, Rekha Varghese, Michelle
Wallace, Miya Williams
Row 2 (left to right): Alix Mansbach, Lizzy Micelli, Jayne Miller, Josiane Moise, Nicole Reinosa
Row 3 (left to right): Erin Gelzer, David Heilman, Stephanie Helwig, Claire Holland, Marianna LeavySperounis, Lauren Madlock
Bottom Row 4 (left to right):Colleen Annes, Elias Barghash, Laura Begosh, Maxwell Brooks, Angelica
Butler, Alexander Conway, Maria Filipe Martins Lima, Gergely Foldesi
Not Pictured: Brook Stroud-Carnot, Angela Termini, Laura Spinu, Tina Arrington
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Get
Fellows
GetTo
to Know
KnowOur
ourNewest
NewestPost-Doctoral
Post-Doctoral
Fellows
Introducing Dr. helen DeVinney, Dr. Sonia Kahn,
and Dr. Crystal Taylor
Dr. DeVinney joins the Professional Psychology Program at GW after
completing her predoctoral internship at Ancora State Psychiatric Hospital in
NJ. There, Dr. DeVinney provided therapy and diagnostic testing for both
civilly and forensically committed patients four days a week; on the fifth day,
she worked in the Counseling and Psychological Services Center at Rowan
University. Dr. DeVinney has also received clinical training and experience
while working at The Catholic University of America’s Counseling Center,
the GW Weight Management Clinic, and the GW Center Clinic. Dr.
DeVinney is a graduate of the GW Professional Psychology Program, as well
as a doctoral candidate in English at the University of Maryland. She has
worked in education reform, teaching, and publishing prior to her pursuits in
psychology. Her interests include working with patients with histories of
complex trauma or attachment impairment, who have experiences of
psychotic processes, and who identify as belonging to populations often
associated with the margins of society. Dr. DeVinney is excited to return to
GW and to be part of such a vibrant training community, particularly as she
credits this program with teaching her how to think critically and
compassionately about patient care.
Dr. Sonia Kahn is an alumni of the Professional Psychology program and recently completed her
predoctoral internship at Holcomb Behavioral Health Systems, a community mental health center
with offices in the suburbs of Philadelphia. She also completed practicums at the Maya Angelou
Public Charter School, Advocates for Survivors of Trauma and Torture, and two years at the
Center Clinic. Dr. Kahn tends to gravitate toward interpersonal and relational theories; because of
this, she is especially excited by working with patients struggling in relationships using couples,
family, and group therapy modalities. In addition to coordinating the technological and research
efforts within the Clinic, she will be co-facilitating the Advanced Seminar with Dr. Mann and
working with Dr. Gump to continue to improve the group therapy offerings at the Center Clinic.
Dr. Crystal Taylor completed her doctorate in clinical psychology at Chestnut Hill College
with a concentration in psychological assessment, and completed her pre-doctoral internship at
the Center for Multicultural Training in Psychology at Boston Medical Center and Boston
University School of Medicine. Dr. Taylor has a psychodynamic and family systems
background and has a passion for mental health advocacy, multicultural diversity, social justice
and the promotion of wellness. She has been actively involved with the promotion and
advocacy of multicultural diversity in the Pennsylvania Psychological Association (PPA) and
the Delaware Valley Association of Black Psychologists (DVABPsi). Dr. Taylor is also the vicepresident on the board of directors for a not-for-profit organization called College-Bound Home
for Girls, and director of mental health and wellness at Explorer Sans Frontières (ESF), a multidisciplinary humanitarian organization that provides medical and wellness support in
Philadelphia and Haiti. Her research interests are focused on analyzing various impacts of same
race verses cross race mentoring and therapeutic relationships.
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Get to Know our Newest Faculty Members
Introducing Faculty Members
Dr. Steven Kane and Dr. James Sexton
Steven Kane, Ph.D. is a psychologist in both private practice and the
Model Asperger Program of the Ivymount School . He received his
doctoral training in developmental psychology at the Catholic
University of America, completed a post-doctoral fellowship in clinical
research at the Harvard Medical School, and retrained in clinical
psychology at the George Washington University. Dr. Kane
specializes in the treatment of children, adolescents and adults with
autism-spectrum and related disorders.
Dr. Sexton has doctorates in both social and
clinical psychology, as well as over a decade of
experience conducting research and statistical
analyses on a wide array of topics in the field of
psychology including; attachment, emotion,
neuropsychology, self-perceptions, attitudes,
personality, affect, psychopathology, program
evaluation, and psychometrics. He has worked as a
consultant for a variety of institutions including
NIMH, NIH, CDC, SAMSHA, NIAAA, AMA,
U.S. Census, as well as the U.S. Departments of
Education and State.
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Clinic Update
The Center Clinic is excited to have several new resources to aid in our operations and
oversight of student training this year. First, we are excited to welcome three new
postdoctoral fellows, two part time clinic assistants, and two graduate assistants. As well,
Dr. Joseph Viola is now with us full-time, assuming additional roles with our community
partnerships, including affiliate sites, externships, and offsite clinical supervisors.
Additionally, we now have video equipment installed in 6 of our 8 clinic rooms, which offers
additional opportunity for training and supervision. Much like our electronic records system
is accessible remotely by off-site faculty and externs, so are these video recordings. We will
be updating our community with new procedures and instructions soon, so we can make use
of these excellent new training resources.
Dr. Sandra T. Mann
Associate Director--Center Clinic
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Community Enhancement Committee
The Community Enhancement
Committee celebrated their annual
Thanksgiving food drive by
collecting nonperishable food items
and donating them to the Capital
Area Food Bank to help local
families in need. Turkeys were
posted in the student lounge with
items the food bank needed most to
make this a fun way for the Psy.D.
community to give back to the DC
community in time for the holidays!
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2013 Graduation
On Thursday, May 16, 2013 we welcomed
the class of 2013 and their guests with a
reception in Old Main. Classmates that had
been apart for almost a year shared
internship experiences and plans, while
faculty and family members expressed their
mutual pride in graduates' accomplishments.
Speaking to the group, faculty noted that the
four years spent in our program are short
compared to the long future association we
hope to enjoy: wherever future paths will
lead, The Professional Psychology Program
remains a home. Following the reception, we
proceeded to the Doctoral Hooding
Ceremony where it was noted that the
designation of "doctor" signifies an original
contribution to knowledge and the readiness
to teach others, and where in a long-standing
tradition, our students had their doctoral
hood placed on their shoulders by Provost
Lerman and their Major Area Paper reader.
The Center for Professional Psychology’s Class of 2013
–Loring Ingraham, Ph.D.
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Community Updates
Dr. Paul Gedo had a paper published recently, and also published a paper with Program alumna, Sarah
Anderson. They are:
Anderson, S. & Gedo, P. (2013). Relational trauma: Using play therapy to treat a disrupted
attachment. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 77
Gedo, P. (2013). Transference/ countertransference repetitions of traumatic affects. Bulletin of the
Menninger Clinic, 77, 161-177.
Maury Joseph attended the 34th International Audio-Visual Symposium on Intensive Short-Term
Dynamic Psychotherapy at the invitation of the model's founder, Habib Davanloo, M.D. The topic was
Davanloo's Psychoanalytic Technique: The Technique of Major Mobilization of the Unconscious and the
Technique of Multidimensional Unconscious Structural Changes. Maury will graduate from the three-year
certificate program in Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy at the Washington School of
Psychiatry in May 2014.
Stephanie McGraw, Leslie Stelljes Nanson, and Rajeev Warrier, PsyD were selected to present a poster
at the George Washington University Research Days.
McGraw, S., Stelljes Nanson, L., & Warrier, R. (2013, April). Contemporary psychoanalytic theory:
Navigating complicated trauma during the psychotherapy process. Poster session presented at George
Washington University Research Days, Washington, D.C.
Over the summer, Psy.D. student Alexey Tolchinsky won the Donald K. Freedheim Student
Development Award in APA Division 29's student paper competition. For more information, please see
the link below: http://www.divisionofpsychotherapy.org/congratulations-to-the-division-29-studentpaper-award-winners/
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Community Updates
Leslie Stelljes Nanson, Rachel Sassoon, MEd, and Jonathan Stillerman, PhD were selected to present a
poster at the American Psychological Association's annual conference in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Stelljes Nanson, L., Sassoon, R., & Stillerman, J. (2013, August). Room for two: Creating space for men in a
women's group. Poster session presented at the 2013 APA Annual Convention, Honolulu, HI.
This past Spring, fourth year student Marta Miranda presented a poster at the Division 39 Annual Spring
Meeting based on her MAP. The title was:
Cultural sensitivity in projective assessment: A comparison of the Exner Comprehensive System and RPAS
She is continuing this research while on internship by volunteering to do psychological assessments for
Latino immigrants at the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project in Seattle, WA.
Here’s to a happy and successful academic year!
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